


Echo Me

by Sharkie02



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Austin got us w/ 'they hang out 2 celebrate but they also kiss', COUNTER/Weight - Freeform, Jace uses a cane bc he's still getting use to moving, Multi, as a few ppl of done this set up after the delaying of rigour, might be a little ooc sorry it's been a while since I've heard c/w, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27508999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharkie02/pseuds/Sharkie02
Summary: Addax and Jace stop off at Jamil’s with alcohol to celebrate Rigour’s defeat, and things fall slow.
Relationships: Addax Dawn/Jamil Quartz-Noble/Jace Rethal
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Echo Me

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed!  
> Welcome to critisisms just please don't be rude.

If Addax had to be honest he would say that Jamil was the only one with any sense out of the three of them, to actually have an apartment in the city centre. Though him and Jace did have their reasons not to move from the places they rarely had the time to stay at due to missions, Jace preferred the quiet thrum of the outer city that was now very new to him after his ten years away and Addax just liked the cafe on the corner of his street to much to move. Though it’s entirely possible that their reason was that they just didn’t want to be seen, in case people started to take notice and ask why old war heroes were renting out the third edition of a cheesy romcom novel from the local library. 

Regardless, Jamil’s flat was the closest to where the couple was when the news had reached them. They had just left the inner city library having gotten some books that Jace wanted, both bundled up for the cold weather when Jamil had sent them a text to their group chat, a flood of messages that explained that Rigour had been delayed greatly all the way over on September, by Jamil’s Aria Joie and The Chime, they knew it wasn’t the end but given that they were only aware of how big of a threat it was a few days before, for it to have been trapped that quickly was a welcome miracle, at least now they had some kind of breathing room.

Another benefit to Jamil’s place was that it was close to a convenience store that sold cheap but decent wine, it took them a little longer to reach her place but they moved quickly enough, with some kind of purpose, like if they didn’t move fast enough they would freeze, or something.

They arrived at Jamil’s apartment a little earlier than they actually thought they would, Jace stamped his feet on the floor under the little shelter of the roof above the door to keep himself warm and stamped his cane as well as to argue against the weather, while Addax pressed the button on the intercom to call Jamil. 

It ran like static that made his ears ache slightly though that might have just been the cold. It took a while to go through as well, enough that Jace stamped his feet again and grabbed hold of Addax’s free hand with both of his own, with his cane under his armpit, he rubbed Addax’s hand thoroughly to keep his partner warm along with him.

Addax smiled softly, then even wider as the call finally went through.

“Hmm, hello?”

“Hey, it’s us! We’re outside right now, and it’s almost as cold as Ionius out here, can you let us in?”

Jace shook the bags of books and wine enough for it to jingle a little and smiled insistently up at Addax.

“And we’ve brought wine!”

He called out of excitement really, though he’d blame it later on the quality of the intercom needing him to be loud, as high quality as it actually was.

Jamil’s smile was audible as she called back, “you should have started with the wine!” Followed by the short fizzle of the door being opened.

Addax pushed the door open with one hand and tugged Jace gently inside with the other, straight into him for a one armed hug, his hand sifting through Jace’s hair as he pulled away. After so long asleep Jace’s head and facial hair had grown and even after being awake for as long as he had he couldn’t bring himself to cut it, his hair reaches his shoulders and he had an incredible amount of pride in the scrappy little beard he had gotten. It made the ex-candidate’s short messy light purple cut look stage worthy and Addax couldn’t bring himself to tell him to shave it either given how happy Jace looked every time he scratched or played with it. 

Jace pulled his cane out again and they moved to bumble up the left staircase together, they took the stairs those days for Jace’s sake in a way, his legs were still waking up and needed the extra exercise, Addax greatly appreciated the clink of the bottom of Jace’s walking stick against the wooden stairs. It was nice to hear something as simple as that with such a meaning behind it.

Once they had reached level 6 and reached the silver plate of 849 Jace leant forward and lightly tapped on the door, the pair pulled themselves closer together to wait for it to open. They could hear shuffling from the inside and a small muffled “Shit!”, after which the door was pulled back an inch and Jamil, slightly ruffled with her purple cornrows tied together with a loose brown scrunchie, peaked through the crack. Addax and Jace realised quite quickly that she was in her dark purple nightgown and pink pyjamas too, she seemed a little breathless as she pulled the door open more.

“Hey, sorry. I thought you both were coming from outside of the city and that I had enough time to clean up the house and get dressed.”

Jace replied readily with a smile, “it’s no problem Jamil. You’ve probably seen our places worse before.” 

“Hmm, can we come in?” He didn’t want to push but he really wanted to get out of the hallway. His question accompanied by Jace rattling the wine bottles for a second time.

“Oh! Yeah.” Jamil moved away from the door and further into the apartment, tying her nightgown a little tighter around her waist, “you can leave the wine on the counter.”

As she moved into the open kitchen she opened a cabinet in the corner, pulled out three wine glasses and set them on the side. Jace walked in and rested his cane next to the coat rack near the door and put the bag down next to the glasses then slowly started to removed the wine bottles.

Addax wasn’t too far behind, closing the door behind him. He pulled off his coat and hung it up. As Jace finished pulling out the wine Addax walked over to the kitchen and met Jamil’s eyes smiling warmly, a looked she returned. Addax helped Jace out of his coat, being careful as not to pull on his arms.

The quiet movements were common place by that point, Addax was worried that he was the only one who found comfort in the silence, knowing that they could all figure out what they were doing without words and that the others found it boring or annoying. But they stayed quiet and that was a good enough reassurance for him.

Jamil had moved a little further onward than they had, she had opened one bottle and had begun pouring it into the glasses, then took some pride in moving around the counter while Addax hung the last coat up to take all three glasses at the same time to the coffee table. She set them all down on her pink, blue and white cat coasters that Addax found pretty adorable, not that he’d admit that aloud or sober.

Jamil gestured towards them both to come over as she sat down on the long sofa facing the TV, her legs curled up underneath her with a glass in one hand, her dressing gown slightly off her shoulders, hair still tied back with her other arm resting on the back of the sofa, she looked up at them both with a grin.

Addax stopped at the edge of the sofa and swallowed, his heart rate ran a little higher, Jace slipped by him snorting a little and hurried over to sit next to Jamil, he grabbed his glass from the coffee table and leant into Jamil, he looked back up at Addax expectantly and mirrored Jamil’s pose, a smug grin on his face. Jamil smiled from behind Jace, her head almost on his shoulder and moved her hand to lay over Jace’s. She knew what she was doing, they both did, though they’d never say it out loud.

They sat and waited for him to move, and he couldn’t deny them for long, so he did. He pattered over to sit next to Jace and began to untie his shoelaces to give himself breathing room, his ears still felt hot.

Addax and Jace had been so slow and careful after they had met the second time, they didn’t necessarily have the time for it but the new situation didn’t totally risk their lives as regularly as it had before, so they talked as much as they could between missions, maybe that was the difference between the Golden War and then.  
Now they talked, about each other, and the morality of their relationship. How this time it would be different and that they were different people (Jace had his doubts on that one, but he knew Addax was different) so how could it not be. How they both wanted this to last as long as possible in a way that felt right. It wasn’t always comfortable or done well but they tried.  
Jamil though, had always been colour and comfort beside Addax after he joined The Rapid Evening, Addax couldn’t deny that nor his happiness at seeing her at any given moment and everything that came with seeing her. They had kissed for comfort before but Addax at the very least was too anxious to actually talk about what it could have meant, but that was as far as they had gotten.  
These were all thing Addax had told Jace in an effort to be honest, but he didn’t seem to mind and would grin wildly at Addax whenever he caught him looking at Jamil for too long. 

“You alright down there old man?” Jace asked, a sly joke considering Jace was a year older than him.

“I think he’s forgotten how to untie his shoes,” Jamil teased.

Addax flushed and kicked his shoes off once he had finished, grabbed his glass and leaned back.

“To The Chime, and the defeat, somewhat, of the Divine Rigour.” He gave the toast, while he giving a small annoyed look to the other two, with no real fire behind it.

“To The Chime, and the defeat of the Divine Rigour,” the other two parroted.  
__________

It really hadn’t taken long for the three of them to get drunk, they’d already gotten though the three bottles they had brought and had started on Jamil’s gin. As much as Addax insisted otherwise he had always had a really bad tolerance for alcohol, in comparison to Jace and Jamil who could drink far more and had turned it into a game of drinking the other under the table. 

At some point Addax had begun to find it difficult to distinguish between the buzz of the alcohol and the buzz of seeing the playful bickering of the two people he cared for the most, a fact that was undeniable at that point, so he just settled down with the knowledge and accepted it.

His back was pressed against the other side of the sofa and he slowly uncrossed his legs, arching them to fit on seat and slid all the way down the arm rest with his hands on his stomach, his work partners giggled in front of him.

“You alright over there Addy?” Jamil called from the other side of Jace, they were going to kill him, he was sure of it.

Addax closed his eyes and pushed himself up to say yes, but he was interrupted by the dip of the sofa fabric, rustle of clothes and opened his eyes to find that Jace and his stupid handsome face was right in front of his own, all small smirk and brown eyes.

“We won Addax.”

“Yeah, we. We wo-.”

He was quickly cut off when Jace pressed his lips to the ex-candidate’s, the scruff of the other man’s beard scratching him slightly, and pulled away again leaving him with a gentle headbutt and a small that would not leave him, “we won,” Jace repeated, a little airy.

The false martyr started to buzz with an entirely difference energy, or it might have just been that the larger amount of alcohol had finally hit it’s peak. He bounced his crossed legs up and down then leant over to Jamil on the other side of the sofa that he was sat in the middle of.

“Hey Jamil…..we’re safe.” His quiet infectious laugh had risen slightly, his nose scrunched up a little.

Jamil just, started for a little while at Jace, either like she was staring at food she really wanted to eat, or a pillow that she really wanted to cuddle. And then she kissed him, putting months and months of obscure tension and connection to rest. Putting her hand on his shoulder breaking up the hair that lay there, far gentler than she and Addax had ever been, like she was afraid they would both break under the weight of it all, then with as much the same tenderness she pulled away but not to far. Addax couldn’t see the way Jace looked right then as much as he desperately wanted to, he could only see Jamil, who was rapidly coming to terms with what she had just done, her eyes going wide in surprise or fear.

Addax surprised him self then, it may have been the alcohol but it was also his own intentions that had seeped through his system, he only really knew that suddenly he was on his knees beside Jace and curled above him, tugging slightly on the collar of Jamil’s nightgown and pulled her upwards to him, bringing her into a similarly soft kiss, then he let go and sat back down with his chin on the other man’s shoulder, smiling in satisfaction at the happy blissful look on Jamil’s face who was still kneeling above them.

It was still for a moment but not for long, Addax didn’t think he had it in him not to move after that, Jace moved to kiss Addax unfurling his legs to turn to his side, trying not to kick Jamil in the act whose hands had found their way to Jace’s back in an attempt to keep herself steady, her eyes still wide but staring. Jace knelt in front of Addax, his crossed arms behind the purple hair and pushed himself up to give himself the leverage he wanted, his hands started to tug a little at Addax’s hair, not harsh or rough but like he was just trying to occupy his hands whilst his lips were on Addax. 

Slowly Addax felt the weight on him get stronger, he pulled back from the kiss to see that Jamil had gathered up the courage to move flush against Jace’s back, who responded in kind and grabbed for Jamil’s hand, to bring it further around his waist while Jamil leant forward to kiss Addax again, he felt like he was drowning and he loved it so much. Unfortunately he moved too quickly in an attempt to make up for how slow they had been going, he kneed the table and knocked over one of the wine glasses onto the floor.

With whatever enchantment they were under suddenly broken it took a while for the silence to be filled. It was Jamil that moved first because she was the only one capable of moving without a problem. She pulled backwards with a small apology and the bright smile on Jace’s incredible gorgeous face, told Addax immediately that he could still feel the heat radiating from her. Addax swore that he could feel the warmth from her cheeks as well even as far as he was. She took her sweet time moving her legs off the sofa and leaning down to pick up the wine glass, thankfully it had landed on the plush carpet seemingly unbroken, it’s safety assured Addax’s eyes wandered, to the scrunchie in her hair that threatened to fall out completely and the way her eyes moved down the glass to check for cracks.

Jace peeled off next, he breathed shallow and crossed his legs. Much like Addax he focused on Jamil’s motions from her flowing nightgown to the way her hand scratched at the carpet to make completely sure that no glass had gotten lost. He grabbed his boyfriend’s hand though, squeezed it a little.

He coughed slightly and began, “so uh, that was, that was lovely.”

Jamil choked out a laugh but froze all the same at the threat of a possible “but,” bent in front of the table with her hand still around the base of the wine glass, eyes to the floor. Addax thought it was a little cruel to leave her waiting, though maybe Jace was just trying to get his works right for the Freelance Reporter.

“But I think this, I mean if we do anything at all like, it’s going to be something I want to remember in the morning.” He pulled his hand away from Addax and looked to Jamil.

“And I super do want to, do something that is, but I also kind of don’t want to do it on the sofa.” He was thinking about his back, Addax could tell.

“But, but I also don’t know if I want this to be a one night stand sort of thing you know, I think I’d want to maybe do it again and then some?” He couldn't scratch at his cane so he settled for the fabric of his trousers at his knee.

“Because like- uh- Look Jamil you’re kind of incredible, I hope someone has told you that. Because- Because you are and, I don’t know, me and Add have talked about it a little but not a lot and to be honest.” Both of his hands were on his knees, he started at the ground trying to put things together.

“I think it would be nice to take you out on a date and stuff possibly, I mean I understand if you want it to be just Addax that’s fine I can share but like-.” Addax knew that Jace’s stumbling wasn’t an account of self-depreciation, he’d gotten far from things like that, it was just Jace’s secret but faulty perfectionism that kept him wanting it to be a good deceleration, but an unfortunately clumsy one.

And Addax was so damn thankful when Jamil rose up and kissed him on the cheek and leant on his shoulder, rendering him silent. Addax knows Jamil rambles when she’s nervous but at least with her reporting talents she can at least somewhat form a solid sentence, no offence to Jace.

Jamil started slow, “it is, probably a good idea to talk about this tomorrow. You said a lot of words, I don’t think I can answer them right right now,” she mumbled into Jace’s neck and nuzzled in slightly. Then she stood up carefully to face Jace and Addax, fondness on her face unbidden but unstoppable, still buzzed from the wine and her hair finally out with her scrunchie lost somewhere in the depths of the sofa. They nodded back in unison.

“Come on then,” she sleepily reached down with both hands to pull them up, after she sensed the need for further encouragement. The pair reached out and she brought them to their feet, though they almost fell over they had kept themselves steady by holding onto each other.

Jamil kept a hold of Addax’s hand and trusted him to keep holding onto Jace’s, she tugged them slowly past the kitchen, into the hallway and passed the bathroom then through her bedroom door, Jace closed it behind him.

It’s not like any of them expected any of what had happened enough to bring or have extra pyjamas so once Jamil had sat down she fell back onto the bed and shuffled her way under the covers, too tired to pay to much attention to the other two who weren’t far behind. Addax immediately settled over the duvet on Jamil’s right breathing in the lilac, lavender and sweat of the room with a heavy sigh.

Jace had to perform the unenviable task of finally taking his shoes off while drunk in the dark, Jamil turned to watch, as did Addax over her shoulder, they chuckled together as their partner (what kind of partner now?) struggled with his laces. Eventually he pulled them off and laid down on the other side of Jamil, he curled around her slightly. Jamil’s purple hair splayed out provided a comforting low light to the dark room.

Now that they were finally could, they fell asleep, next to each other.


End file.
